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OverviewTongan barkcloth, made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, still features lavishly in Polynesian ceremonies all over the world. Yet despite the attention paid to this textile by anthropologists and art historians alike, little is known about its history. Providing a unique insight into Polynesian material culture, this book explores barkcloth’s rich cultural history, and argues that its manufacture, decoration and use are vehicles of creativity and female agency. Based on twelve years of extensive ethnographic and archival research, the book uncovers stories of ceremony, gender, the senses, religion and nationhood, from the 17th century up to the present-day. Placing the materiality of textiles at the heart of Tongan culture, Veys reveals not only how barkcloth was and continues to be made, but also how it defines what it means to be Tongan. Extending the study to explore the place of barkcloth in the European imagination, she examines international museum collections of Tongan barkcloth, from the UK and Italy to Switzerland and the USA, addressing the bias of the European ‘gaze’ and challenging traditional gendered understandings of the cloth. A nuanced narrative of past and present barkcloth manufacture, designs and use, Unwrapping Tongan Barkcloth demonstrates the importance of the textile to both historical and contemporary Polynesian culture. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Fanny Wonu Veys (National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands)Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.558kg ISBN: 9781474283328ISBN 10: 1474283322 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 26 January 2017 Audience: College/higher education , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand  We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of Contents1. Introduction ENCOUNTERS 2. Awakening European Minds 3. Creating Barkcloth 4. Collecting Barkcloth CREATIVITY 5. Creativity in Shapes and Forms 6. Between the Cross and the Cloth FEMALE AGENCY 7. Capturing the ‘Female Essence’? 8. A Feast for the Senses 9. Conclusion: Encounters, Creativity and Female Agency Appendix Glossary Bibliography IndexReviewsThis inter-disciplinary study focuses on dynamic processes encompassed in the complex materiality of Tongan barkcloth. The author synthesizes archival, photographic, ethnographic, and museum object data to highlight how contemporary textiles impact humans’ senses. She deftly theorizes the objects’ roles in Tongan historical encounters, notions of creativity, and female agency. -- Ping-Ann Addo, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA This inter-disciplinary study focuses on dynamic processes encompassed in the complex materiality of Tongan barkcloth. The author synthesizes archival, photographic, ethnographic, and museum object data to highlight how contemporary textiles impact humans' senses. She deftly theorizes the objects' roles in Tongan historical encounters, notions of creativity, and female agency. -- Ping-Ann Addo, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA Author InformationFanny Wonu Veys is Curator Oceania at the National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands. She is President of the Pacific Arts Association Europe and has been a research fellow at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, France and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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